I drink lots and lots of green tea. Earl Grey is for when I’m feeling hardcore, like when I’m getting up at three o’clock in the morning to go to the airport, or something.

3. Name one thing on your bucket list.

I’d like to see the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia.

4. Do you have pets?

Sylvie. A six-toed, gorgeous silly cat who looks like a pussy willow wearing snowshoes. I adopted her when she was seven.5. When I wake up every morning I… spring out of bed and run three miles, rain or shine, beaming beatifically at all the neighbors I pass, and—actually, I fling open a window, then shuffle off to the kitchen and head to get the electric kettle going for that first cup of tea. And then I give the cat her Fancy Feast.​6. Weirdest​ or unique thing you own.

Mmmm…I have a 1940s Epiphone Hawaiian guitar amplifier given to me by a old friend—he bought it for five dollars from a thrift store. The store thought it was some kind of old heater. It’s worth about a hundred times what he paid for it. A beautiful thing.​7. Do you have ​any hobbies or particular skills?

Does obsessive rumination count as a hobby? 😉 I play guitar. (I used to play in bands.) I still make up songs, but they’re mostly about my cat for my own entertainment. LOL. I crochet. I’m going to learn to knit this winter.8. What do you hope readers will experience or gain when reading your stories?

I hope they’ll be so immersed in the story that they forget about time and place and just be RIGHT in there in the story. I hope they’ll they’ll laugh a lot, cry a little, fall in love, and feel a dozen kinds of emotions along with the hero and heroine. I hope they’ll think about the characters long after they close the book because they’ll feel like friends and family.

Meet Julie Anne Long

USA Today Bestselling author and Rita Award winner Julie Anne Long‘s books have been translated into fifteen languages and nominated for numerous awards, including the Romance Writers of America Rita and Romantic Times Reviewer’s choice, and reviewers have called them “dazzling,” “brilliant” and “impossible to put down.” HOT IN HELLCAT CANYON, named by Amazon.com as one of the Best books of 2016, was nominated for a 2016 Rita Award, and Kirkus Reviews named WILD AT WHISKEY CREEK one of the best books of 2016. She lives in California.

DIRTY DANCING AT DEVIL’S LEAP

She was a naive country girl. He was a billionaire’s spoiled son. He was her first crush, her first heartbreak…and now her sworn enemy.

As Avalon Harwood’s fortunes soared, Maximilian “Mac” Coltrane’s plummeted, and he had to fight his way back to where they both began: Hellcat Canyon. Now Mac and Avalon will play dirty—in more ways than one—to get what they each want: the glorious old abandoned Coltrane mansion. But when Avalon snaps the house up at auction, she discovers there’s something awfully familiar about the extremely hot caretaker…

Mac might have a heart of stone, and the abs to match, but Avalon—the dazzling girl whose heart was always too big and too reckless for her own good—was always his Kryptonite. And just like that, the stakes change: suddenly they’re fighting not just for a house, but for a magic they tasted only once before and never since—long ago, with each other, at Devil’s Leap.

Giveaway!

A broken truck, a broken career, and a breakup heard around the world land superstar John Tennessee McCord in Hellcat Canyon. Legend has it that hearts come in two colors there: gold or black. And that you can find whatever you’re looking for, whether it’s love . . . or trouble. JT may have found both in waitress Britt Langley.

His looks might cause whiplash and weak knees, but Britt sees past JT’s rough edge and sexy drawl to a person a lot like her: in need of the kind of comfort best given hot and quick, with clothes off and the lights out.

Her wit is sharp but her eyes and heart—not to mention the rest of her—are soft, and JT is falling hard. But Britt has a secret as dark as the hills, and JT’s past is poised to invade their present. It’s up to the people of Hellcat Canyon to help make sure their future includes a happily ever after.

To enter, simply leave the author a question based on their Q&A responses or about their books. Giveaway ends on 12/17/17.

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Hi Shannon! 🙂 Truthfully, playing in dive bars got a little old, and I’m not really cut out for life on the road. I like my home comforts! Writing was always my first love, and I never really stopped writing even as I worked a corporate job and played music by night. I knew I could incorporate all of the things I loved about playing music—drama, passion, men with unruly hair—into the stories I wrote. So interesting that your grandfather is from Croatia—what a beautiful place. The Plitvice lakes look like something from an epic fantasy novel.

Have you ever worn anything that you have crocheted? I love reading stories where I feel I am part of the family. Have you ever written a story and could not let it go? To the point that you made the book into a series?

Hi Angela! I definitely wear the things I crochet—hats and scarves. I learned to knit, too, but i need to expand my repertoire a bit—a girl can only wear so many scarves! I’ve written two series so far—The Pennyroyal Green series of historical romances and the Hellcat Canyon contemporary series, and with each series I absolutely feel immersed in the stories and part of the families. The worlds become pretty real to me, so surfacing from a book at the end of a story is like returning from a deep sea dive. I remember in particular when I finished writing IT STARTED WITH A SCANDAL (my historical that won the Rita)—I woke up the next day feeling a little blue, because i knew I wouldn’t be spending more time with Elise or Lavay. And usually the primary feeling is, “thank God I finished the book!” LOL.

Aww, I think she’s beautiful, too! We thank you for the compliment. 🙂 She has such a sparkly personality. I’ve had cats all my life, so I love writing about them and incorporating a little of every cat I’ve known. A scene my readers count as one of their all time favorites (and funniest) involves a temperamental cat named Charybdis and marquess in HOW THE MARQUESS WAS WON. And HOT IN HELLCAT CANYON feature a cat named Phillip.

So sweet, Peggy! Funny, I feel like I’m in a time machine when I’m writing a book! Hee! Time will fly, I guarantee it. And hopefully I’ll have a novella for readers between now and June. I’ll keep everyone posted on Facebook and via my newsletter!

i love your description of your cat. my daughter & youngest son recently moved into a new place. there is a gorgeous grey cat with green eyes who seems to have an extra “toe” on each paw. just the sweetest cat ever, and no one knows who it belongs to.

Awww, that sounds just like my Sylvie! I love six-toed (polydactyl, or Hemingway cats, as they’re called). She is a sparkly little character. 🙂 I hope the gray kitty has an owner or finds someone to take care of it.

i’ve been a writer all my life, actually! From the moment I learned HOW to write. 🙂 I always intended to pursue it seriously at some point. I’ve worked in the Global Finance department of a major company, I’ve done web and graphic design, and I’ve worked in marketing and communications, all while writing or playing in bands. And all of the skills I’ve learned has been very useful in my writing career!